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October 31, 2007
 Well, here we
are again with a different look to the site. I love that sweet Diva,
but now the harvest is ending and we are sliding into the dark of the year
and I really wanted something to reflect that change. I spent far
too much time looking for a nice, autumn background and then finally
decided that one of the prettiest things I'd seen in a while was my own
back yard, so I took a picture to show you and that is now the top banner.
To the left is the wonderful shed that
Eric built. He did such a fine job and it is just stuffed to the
very gills. Straight back and past the gate, there is a kind of
dome-shaped structure covered in quilts. That's our sweat lodge,
which will be in great used tonight for a good ol' End of Harvest sweat.
This is the time when we cast off what no longer serves us and we'll go in
and sweat it all out after all the trick-or-treating is over.
Closer in and under the trees is the
spa/Jacuzzi. Thank God for
Craig's List. Lots of happy times in there. Fortunately,
Eric, God bless'im, is great about keeping it nice and clean and
chemically-clean, so it's always ready to go.
The kids, of course, are all fired up
for Halloween. They had a little carnival down at another elementary
school last Saturday, which let them try out their costumes. Nathan
promptly decided that he didn't like his bleeding Scream mask because it
was just way too hot under there, which means he has to dig into the
costume box for something else to wear. We struck gold this morning
with a costume he has already worn 3 years in a row.
I got them up early to put on their
costumes for school, but when it was time to normally get ready for
school, they informed me that they weren't allowed to wear masks. ?!
Since both of their costumes were fairly mask-dependent, we had to think
fast. After much discussion. we came up with these:
My sweet Dylan is a nerd. He has a sticky note on his
pocket that says, "Hello...My name is Dylan. I am
white and nerdy.
My baby Nathan pulled out his old skeleton costume and
we got busy with the face paint. He's truly more thrilled
than he looks. Truly.
Delena didn't want to dress up because she was tired. Tonight,
I think Dylan is going to be a vampire and Nathan is staying with the
skeleton. Masks are awful anyway. I think we're done with
them.
Eric plans to dress up for the community party on Saturday, but I
don't know as what yet. There will be photos...oh yes, there will be
photos.
Also, Saturday night is Delena's first Homecoming dance, so there
will be photos there too.
Today is a really big day for me and Eric, personally, because, in
the tradition of letting go of what is old and outmoded, he faxed his
resignation into the Post Office today. It's a little scary since
that is our primary income, but he has a really good job lined up with
Beale AFB and a couple more that he is bidding, so we figure it's a good
time to jump ship. I completely understand that he needs to focus on
his business exclusively and sometimes, you have to take a leap of faith.
He is required to give 30 days' notice, but his contract is such that they
could also give him 30 days' notice at any time as well. That means
his last day will be November 30th. That's a Friday, so that means
that December 1st will be his first full weekend off in over a year.
That also means that someone else will be delivering the bulk of the
Christmas parcels. Since the post office dropped him into the job on
November 13th with no training, just in time for a heavy political year
(LOTS of campaign mailings) and Christmas mailings, I don't have a lot of
sympathy for them. He was learning how to do his job and putting in 12-15
hour days, delivering mail by flashlight. If they cannot find anyone
to do the route, they will probably ask him to continue on an emergency
basis, but if they do, they will have to pay him a WHOLE lot more money to
do it than they do now.
I could say that my job is going well, but that really depends on
how you look at it. I like it very much and I am learning a
tremendous amount, which is nice. The ol' gray cells have not been
jostled much in the past several years and it is really nice to pick up
new info and info I'd forgotten.
The low side of it is that I am really, really awful at this.
That's not me being humble, but me being a realist. I was awful at
it when I did it before and my skills did not improve over the 13 years
off when I wasn't doing it. I'm getting better, but I have still
never come anywhere near the 100 line per hour rate that they require of
their MTs. I'll just keep going until they fire me! :) I
only am scheduled to work from 10-2 Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday,
but they are really backed up on reports and are begging people to work
any time they can, so I've been putting in at least a couple of hours
every day. Maybe they'll be desperate enough to keep me!
And now, it's time for me to log on and get busy!
I hope you have a very wonderful Halloween. Don't forget,
whatever is still out in the field tomorrow morning, you have to let go.
If it comes back, it's yours and you know the rest!
Be Particular,
Addendum, 9:05pm
Trick or treat was an amazing
success. Here we all are ready to leave:
That is a terrible, terrible photo of Delena. The princess is
actually a very handsome little boy :) The girl in white is
Delena's girlfriend, who came with us. The funny little head towering over
the black shrouded face is my friend, Marcia.
Some very cool decorations along the way...
I love my town.
:)
Next comes the community party on Saturday and I WILL dress up for
THAT!
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The cathartic,
middle-aged ramblings of an occasionally confused woman
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Name:
Katrina Rasbold
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Location:
Grizzly Flats, California
I am a happily
married broad of a particular age who lives in a rural mountain
community on the edge of the El Dorado National Forest.
Grizzly Flats was once a thriving mining town (think "Deadwood"),
but is now a quiet, remote town with a few hundred year-round
residents and several city folks with a country home up here
where they come to rough it a few times a year. No more
saloons or hotels or livery stables, just an unmanned fire
station, a 2 room schoolhouse, a ranger station and a post
office.
It's heaven.
I am a writer and webmaster. I
am also a medical transcriptionist and a student of life and the
world around us.
I deeply honor all religions and
whatever (harming none) path others use to reach God and their
most sacred selves. I completely reject the premise that
there is one path/ one religion that "fits all" and is the
"right" one. Just as people speak in different languages to
one another, I believe God also speaks to us in different
languages. God knows us well enough to understand that our
spirits vibrate on different levels and must be accessed in
different ways with different words and practices.
Mike Rowe ("Dirty Jobs"):
"Are you a religious man?"
Septic Tank Cleaner: "No,
but I am a spiritual man."
Dirty Jobs
Scrubs
House
Weeds
General Hospital
All My Children
One Life to Live
Big Love
Rescue Me
Lost
The Deadwood Movies to tie up the canceled series
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